Doctor Who: Flux 1, The Halloween Apocalypse

The series 13 of the new Doctor Who is something special: it has only 6 episodes (shorter than other seasons because of covid-19) and tells only one story. The Halloween Apocalypse is the first part and, no matter its jam-packed action style (without many pauses), it’s only an introduction: it presents us the characters and the appearance of Flux, the phenomenon that threatens to destroy the Earth.

A short presentation of what’s known so far:

• You already know The Doctor and Yaz (Jodie Whittaker and Mandip Gill)), and Daniel Lewis (or Dan, the new companion played by John Bishop) was introduced months ago.
• Th eccentric Joseph Williamson started to dig tunnels under Liverpool (in 1820!) but nobody knows yet why (we will find for sure only later).
• About Vinder (Jacob Anderson) it is said that he will play a key role in this series but for now he has not reached the TARDIS yet. He is the first to notice the Flux and he is still in danger to be get by it.
• Claire (Annabel Scholey) is a victim of the Weeping Angels but her role is also unknown. Considering that she will meet the Doctor’s team at some point we shall see her again.
• Karvanista must save Dan but their relationship does not start too good considering Dan thinks Karvanista is a man dressed as a dog on Halloween and Karvanista abducts him. The Lupari fleet comes to save the humans on Earth but the Doctor changes a little their ideas because Flux approaches too fast the planet.
• Sontarans are coming, very willingly to continue the war they were fighting, searching victory and glory.
• Swarm (Sam Spruell) pretends to be an ancient enemy of the Doctor, something old enough to be forgotten (her memory being erased meanwhile), and in the beginning of the episode was the prisoner of the Time Lords (he has been their prisoner for a very long time). The episode The Timeless Children changed very much our perspective about the Doctor and this new character is somehow related to that events. Some people say that this Swarn is a kind of Time Lord because he changed his look in the beginning of the episode (some kind of regeneration similar with the species from Gallifrey) la începutul episodului.
• Swarm has a sister that will be better known in the following episoded.
• The Division is a military black ops, some kind of Time Lords special forces.

I’ll let you discover alone how they all interact so far. If this season continue in the same style as the first episode it might be a good one, but we have to watch it together in the following month and half.

Episode directed by Jamie Magnus Stone, written by Chris Chibnall (current showrunner). Cast: Jodie Whittaker (The Doctor), Mandip Gill (Yasmin Khan), John Bishop (Dan Lewis), Steve Oram (Joseph Williamson), Nadia Albina (Diane), Sam Spruell (Swarm), Rochenda Sandall (Azure), Jacob Anderson (Vinder), Annabel Scholey (Claire), Jonathan Watson (Ritskaw), Dan Starkey (Kragar), Matthew Needham (Old Swam), Sarah Amankwah (En Sentec), Charlie Oscar (K-Toscs), Richard Tate (Wilder), Paul Leonard (James Stonehouse), Heather Bleasdale (Wilma), John May (Kev).

Despite apparently the TARDIS being consumed by “the end of the universe” at the climax of Halloween Apocalypse, the Doctor and her team have somehow survived to fight another day and finds themself transported back to 1850s Earth in a first-look at War of the Sontarans. The second part of the six-episode Flux storyline will also feature a real-life historical figure in the form of Mary Seacole, a Jamaican doctor who founded Spring Hill – a healing haven for wounded soldiers – in the 19th century.